


Slapsgiving

by BohemianRhapsodyInBlue



Category: How I Met Your Mother
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 13:51:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10720593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BohemianRhapsodyInBlue/pseuds/BohemianRhapsodyInBlue
Summary: If he had known, then he would have fought harder to convince his friends not to slap him. He would have done anything not to have them witness the events that followed the slap. But he was too late.--------------------When slap no.4 sends Barney into a panic attack, what will be revealed about Barney's life?





	Slapsgiving

**Author's Note:**

> By the way, I'm aware that Mickey is in this scene, I'm deliberately ignoring him for most of this because he's not necessary to my story.

Barney understood what brought it on. In hindsight he could easily pick out the triggers. There was the suspense of knowing that he was going to get slapped but not knowing when. He figured that was normal though, who wouldn’t be cautious in that scenario. With that in mind, he didn’t bother to hide the flinches.

However, there were things about that evening that made it different from all the other slaps. Robin and Ted had been arguing non stop about who was going to be able to hit him, that tension, even if he didn’t immediately pick up on it, set him on guard psychologically. There was the conflict between Lily and her father, and then Marshall and Lily’s father. Then for them to both forgive the man so easily regardless of everything, it dragged a whole set of memories forward that Barney had fought so hard to cover up. Finally, it was the way Marshall gave him false hope, let him think he was safe before striking. But this is looking back with hindsight. At the time Barney dismissed these things, he’d been slapped a lot of times in his life, it had become a common possibility when he would constantly hit on girls. So he ignored them, he’d moved on with his life, he wasn’t the same kid who cowered under his bed from a man he no longer acknowledged he existence of.

If he had known, then he would have fought harder to convince his friends not to slap him. He would have done anything not to have them witness the events that followed the slap. But he was too late.

SLAP!

His body flailed and spun as he fell to the floor. His ears rang loudly and white light spread itself over his vision as the painful sting erupted in his cheek. Barney brought his hands over his ears to block out the sound and clenched his eyes shut blinking hard, trying to clear his vision. When he eventually regained his sight he could see the wooden planks that made up the underside of his bed. He was hiding. James was out with his friends and his mom was most likely passed out drunk on the sofa downstairs. No one was gonna save him, no one ever did.

He heard the heavy footsteps resonating through the wooden floors as his dad came down the corridor. He could hear his heart beat pounding in his skull as he watched the black work boots turn the corner into his bedroom.

‘BARNEY!’ The rough voice bellowed making him whimper softly. He listened as the drunk man began throwing things around, tearing his room apart trying to find him. There was so much noise, but it was indistinguishable, he just knew that everything was so loud and all he wanted was for it to stop.

It wasn’t until he felt two strong hand grab at him that he reacted. The hands dragged him out from under the bed clawing at him wildly, ripping at his clothes and swinging frantically to hit any part of his body they could reach. He sprung into action kicking his legs and scrambling across the floor trying to escape the man’s grasp, he was crying out and screaming but there was no use.

The hands gripped roughly onto Barney’s arms and shook him in rage. His head collided with hard wooden floors with a loud thud. He found it weird though because as this happened he didn’t feel the sharp pain of his skull smashing against the solid floor, instead he hit something softer, like carpet. But he didn’t have carpet on his bedroom floor. He looked up into the eyes of his attacker only to see a frantic Marshall looking back at him. 

It didn’t make any sense, he backed away quickly taking in his surroundings, realising he was not in fact in his bedroom but back in Marshall and Lily’s apartment. It was that moment that he realised what he’d done.

——————————————————————————————

SLAP!

‘That’s four!’ Marshall exclaimed as his friend collapsed to the floor. The others gasped in surprise before filling the room with cheers and laughter. They made there way over to the table to start the meal now that they were all happy. As they sat down together Lily noticed that they hadn’t heard Barney complaining yet.

‘Barney are you coming?’ She said playfully but was alarmed to see him curled up on the floor with his hands pressed against his ears.

‘Barney?’ She spoke again with a more concerned tone.

‘Oh ignore him Lily, he’s just being dramatic, aren’t you Barney?’ Ted said laughing. He made his way back over to his friend and tried to prove this to Lily.

‘Barney come on, get up, you’re freaking out the girls,’ Robin sent Ted an offended look from where she had been calmly sitting, which he chuckled at. He noticed his attempts weren’t working but he knew how good Barney was at acting.

‘Barney!’ He shouted trying to snap him out of it so they could just eat their meal already. A choked whimper escaped Barney’s mouth and Ted immediately took a step back realising he wasn’t acting. The others came over as well.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ Robin said with a hint of concern in her voice.

‘Oh my god Marshall! You must have slapped him too hard!’ Lily stated.

‘What? I didn’t mean to-‘ He was cut off by another sound coming from their friend which sounded more like a sob this time. Marshall pushed the others back and knelt down beside Barney’s figure. He saw the pained expression that was etched on his friend’s face.

‘Guys, I think he’s having some kind of panic attack.’ They all instantly looked regretful of their actions. They watched silently as Marshall reached out for Barney.

‘Barney, it’s me Marshall, it’s ok, just try to stay calm.’ Marshall tried to get through to him.

‘Can he even hear you?’ Ted questioned.

‘I don’t know, he’s never done this before, I don’t know what to do.’ He huffed back.

He grabbed onto Barney’s shoulders so he would be able to turn him over but realised his mistake.

‘NO!’ Barney’s voice pierced the air as he began shouting and crying out, struggling in Marshall’s grasp. Marshall held on to him trying to make sure he wouldn’t hurt himself.

‘No, please! I’m sorry!’ Barney kicked his legs knocking over the chair that he had sat in five minutes before and his hands clawed at the floor looking like he was trying to crawl away. They noticed the stream of tears running down his cheeks.

‘Please dad! You’re hurting me!’ 

‘Dad?’ Lily whispered in a horrified voice as the situation became clear.They all began to panic not knowing how to help as they watched their friend fling his body around seemingly reacting to something only he could see. They winced collectively as Barney’s head bounced off the floor but it seemed to have changed something.

Barney’s yells suddenly turned into confused shouts even though he keep struggling. They saw how his eyes widened as he seemed to finally be able to see what was actually happening.

Marshall softened his grip and it was enough for Barney to scramble away not taking his eyes off the four of them. He was breathing heavily but seemed to have realised that he wasn’t wherever his mind had taken him. He turned his gaze to the floor trying to ignore the fact that everyone was staring at him.

‘Barney?’ Marshall spoke softly.

‘Yeah, sorry I um-‘ He looked up to gage their reactions, ‘Can we just pretend that didn’t happen?’

Everyone shared a look of hesitation, they weren’t sure that ignoring this would be the best solution.

‘Come on guys, it’s Thanksgiving, let’s just- let’s just do Thanksgiving. Please?’ Barney asked quietly.

There was a moment of silence where Barney thought he was actually going to have to talk about this.

‘Turkey anyone?’ Marshall’s bright voice filled the silence suddenly and like a switch had been flipped they all went back to their meal with Barney joining them this time. Never had he been more thankful for his friends than in the moment which he deemed seasonally appropriate.

Of course, Barney knew this wouldn’t be the end of this, but at least for that moment he could carry on in his happy life that he had created for himself.


End file.
